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Raymond Davis Case: Developing Story

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I still don't understand why there are conflicting statements about whether these two robbed someone earlier. How hard is that to establish one way or the other?

Note that it still does not excuse Davis' behavior unless he can prove that they threatened him with a gun first. Just because someone is a robber doesn't mean you can shoot him in the back in cold blood.

There is also the allegation that Davis brandished a weapon at police.

I don't think they robbed anyone, the so called Dr Mudassar is nowhere to be found and have not once appeared in front of TV
 
I don't think they robbed anyone, the so called Dr Mudassar is nowhere to be found and have not once appeared in front of TV

Probably Dr Mudassar was offered the green card, filed the case, took it and left.
 
Diplomatic Immunity and the Raymond Davis Case


The shooting to death of two Pakistani youths, namely Faizan Haider and Muhammad Faheem, by a U.S. Consulate official, Raymond Allen Davis, and the death of a third Pakistani, namely Obaid-ur-Rahman, by a vehicle operated by the U.S. Consulate, in Lahore on 27 January 2011 has, once again, raised concerns relating to the conduct of American officials working for the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Pakistan.

Raymond Davis was arrested by the Punjab Police on the same day and, on 28 January 2011, was presented before a magistrate in Lahore, who remanded him into police custody for six days. On 29 January 2011, three days after the incident, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, without even naming Raymond Davis, called for his release whilst claiming that he was a diplomat and was being detained illegally in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 (the “Vienna Diplomatic Convention”). On 1 February 2011, the Lahore High Court, in response to a public interest petition, restrained Pakistani authorities from handing Raymond Davis over to the U.S. authorities and has ordered his name to be placed on the Exit Control List to prevent him from leaving Pakistan.

It may be pertinent to note that the U.S. Embassy’s press release of 29 January 2011 makes the following, rather surprising, claim:

“On January 27, the diplomat acted in self-defense when confronted by two armed men on motorcycles. The diplomat had every reason to believe that the armed men meant him bodily harm. Minutes earlier, the two men, who had criminal backgrounds, had robbed money and valuables at gunpoint from a Pakistani citizen in the same area.”

One wonders the basis on which the U.S. Embassy is claiming that two of the deceased had criminal backgrounds or had committed any crime. The deceased have not been found guilty of the offence alleged by the U.S. Embassy, either by the investigating police authorities or by any court of law. In making such an unwarranted claim, which is against diplomatic norms and also amounts to unlawful interference in a legal process of a host state in violation of Article 41(1) of the Vienna Diplomatic Convention, the U.S. Embassy has clearly overstepped its bounds.

The press release goes on to say:

“When detained, the U.S. diplomat identified himself to police as a diplomat and repeatedly requested immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Local police and senior authorities failed to observe their legal obligation to verify his status with either the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore or the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. Furthermore, the diplomat was formally arrested and remanded into custody, which is a violation of international norms and the Vienna [Diplomatic] Convention, to which Pakistan is a signatory.”

It seems that the U.S. Embassy is unaware that when a foreigner is arrested and claims diplomatic immunity, it is not the legal responsibility of the arresting authority, in this case the Punjab Police, to ascertain his diplomatic status; it is the responsibility of the arrested person and his embassy or consulate to establish his diplomatic credentials and the same cannot achieved by orally boasting of diplomatic immunity without any documentary proof. The Vienna Diplomatic Convention does not require states to assume that every foreigner is a diplomat. It is the responsibility of all diplomats to carry on their persons, at all times, their diplomatic identity cards, which are issued by the Foreign Ministry of the host state and to produce the same on demand when required by any government authority, including law enforcement agencies such as the police. The U.S. Embassy has overlooked the fact that Mr. Raymond Davis was arrested from a non-diplomatic vehicle (with non-diplomatic registration plates) and he failed to produce any diplomatic identity card to establish his diplomatic credentials.

Also, the mere holding of a diplomatic passport does not confer diplomatic status on someone. Diplomatic status must be expressly recognized by the host state. For example, a foreign diplomat in India will not be a diplomat in Pakistan. He may visit Pakistan using a diplomatic passport, however, he will have no diplomatic immunity in Pakistan by virtue of his diplomatic passport because he is not a member of any diplomatic mission in Pakistan and has not been recognized as such by Pakistan. Recognition of diplomatic status is expressed through the issuance of a diplomatic identity card to a person by the host state, which, in the case of Raymond Davis, seems to be absent.

Earlier, the U.S. Embassy issued the following press release on 28 January 2011, a day after the arrest and detention of Raymond Davis:

“A staff member of the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore was involved in an incident yesterday that regrettably resulted in the loss of life. The U.S. Embassy is working with Pakistani authorities to determine the facts and work toward a resolution.”

Clearly, there is an inconsistency in the U.S. Embassy’s presses releases of 28 January and 29 January. The U.S. Embassy did not raise the issue of diplomatic immunity a day after the arrest and, in fact, referred to Raymond Davis as being a “staff member of the U.S. Consulate, General in Lahore”. In other words: a consular officer. The U.S. Embassy’s press release of 28 January only reinforced the belief of the Punjab Police and the Punjab Government, and justifiably so, that Mr. Raymond Davis was not a diplomat but a “consular officer” and, as such, not immune from detention and prosecution.

Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 (the “Vienna Consular Convention”), consular officers do not enjoy unfettered diplomatic immunity. Article 41 of the Vienna Consular Convention states:

“Consular officers shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial, except in the case of a grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority.”

It is evident that shooting to death of two human beings constitutes “a grave crime” pursuant to the Vienna Consular Convention and Raymond David’s detention is pursuant to a judicial process, having been authorized by a competent judicial authority as per the Vienna Consular Convention.

What needs to be appreciated by the U.S. Embassy is that if a Pakistani national, shoots dead two Americans on the streets of New York using an unlicensed weapon whilst driving a non-diplomatic vehicle and is, subsequently, arrested by the New York police and claims diplomatic immunity without producing any diplomatic ID, will the New York police be bound to release him or keep him detention till such time that he or the Pakistani Consulate in New York establishes his diplomatic credentials? Clearly, the New York police will have the right to detain him till such time.

Therefore, in light of the aforesaid, the arrest of Raymond Davis by the Punjab Police was legal and not in violation of the Vienna Consular Convention or, for that matter, the Vienna Diplomatic Convention (both ratified by Pakistan in its Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act, 1972). Furthermore, the continued detention of Raymond Davis is not a violation of the Vienna Diplomatic Convention till such time that it is proved that he is a diplomat.

The U.S. Embassy, until now, has failed to establish the diplomatic status of Raymond Davis. Indeed, the evidence so far is to the contrary. A local news channel has shown a letter written by the U.S. Embassy dated 20 January 2010 wherein it is informing Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry that Raymond Davis is a member of the Embassy’s “administrative and technical staff” and requesting for him the issuance of a “non-diplomatic ID” card. This letter clearly shows that the U.S. Embassy itself did not recognize Raymond Davis as a diplomat. It, therefore, seems that the U.S. Embassy’s 29 January 2011 press statement claiming that Raymond Davis is a diplomat is an afterthought intended to shield him from criminal prosecution.

No one should dispute the fact that diplomats are immune from criminal prosecution under the Vienna Diplomatic Convention (Article 31(1)). Even if we were to hypothetically assume, without admitting, that Raymond Davis is a diplomat, there are still options that can be exercised. The Vienna Diplomatic Convention clearly reveals its spirit when it states, in its preamble, that “the purpose of such privileges and immunities is not to benefit individuals but to ensure the efficient performance of the functions of diplomatic missions as representing States.” The Vienna Diplomatic Convention allows foreign states to (i) punish their own diplomats for committing crimes in host countries (Article 31(4)) or (ii) waive the diplomatic immunity of its diplomats so that they can be prosecuted by the host state (Article 32). Therefore, the host state may itself request the foreign state to waive the immunity of a diplomat so that it can prosecute such diplomat.

The Vienna Diplomatic Convention also contains a mechanism under which a diplomat can be stripped of his diplomatic status and immunity by the host state. The host state has the authority under Article 9 of the Vienna Diplomatic Convention to declare a diplomat as a persona non grata and, thereafter, under Article 43(b), to issue a notice to the foreign state’s embassy informing it that it refuses to recognize such person as a member of the foreign country’s diplomatic mission. Upon receipt of the notice under Article 43(b) by the foreign state’s embassy, the diplomat in question forthwith ceases to remain a diplomat and is automatically stripped of his diplomatic immunity. Therefore, even if it is established that Raymond Davis is a diplomat, the Government of Pakistan can strip him of his diplomatic status and immunity by, firstly, declaring him a persona non grata under Article 9 of the Vienna Diplomatic Convention and, thereafter, by issuing a notice under Article 43(b) of the Vienna Diplomatic Convention to the U.S. Embassy, Islamabad informing it therein that Pakistan refuses to recognize Raymond Davis as a member of the U.S. diplomatic mission.

Even if Pakistan does not take the above action, the U.S. can take the moral high ground and itself waive diplomatic immunity for Raymond Davis. There are precedents in this regard and one need not look beyond the manner in which the United States itself views diplomatic immunity. Though, in the case of Raymond Davis, who is a junior functionary, the U.S. Embassy is claiming diplomatic immunity for a person who shot dead two Pakistani youth using an unlicensed weapon, the U.S. itself demanded the lifting of immunity of a senior diplomat who accidently killed a U.S. citizen in a car accident on its soil.

In 1997, Gueorgui Makharadze, the Georgian Deputy Ambassador to the United States, accidently killed an American teenager in a road accident in Washington, D.C. The U.S. exerted extreme pressure on the Georgian government to lift his diplomatic immunity even though it was not a deliberate shoot-to-death killing, as in the case of Raymond Davis, but a car accident. The Georgian government finally relented “in the interests of U.S.-Georgian relations and on moral and ethical grounds.” Makharadze was tried in a U.S. court, found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 21 years in prison. While lifting Makharadze’s diplomatic immunity, then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze observed, “I cannot imagine diplomacy and politics devoid of moral principle.”

Even if Raymond Davis is a diplomat, wouldn’t it be prudent for the U.S. to follow little Georgia’s example and lift his diplomatic immunity in the interests of U.S.-Pakistan relations and on moral and ethical grounds. Or, perhaps, unlike Georgia, the United States of America sees diplomacy as being devoid of moral principles
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http://teeth.com.pk/blog/2011/02/07/diplomatic-immunity-and-the-raymond-davis-case#more-33908

The writer, Rai Muhammad Saleh Azam is a High Court Advocate based in Lahore and a partner in the law firm Azam & Rai
 
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ajtr posted that on another thread, very interesting.


Raymond Davis case: Men killed in Lahore were intelligence operatives, says official


ISLAMABAD: The government’s reluctance to free Raymond Davis is attributed to the fact that the two killed in the Lahore shooting were believed to be the intelligence operatives.
“Yes, they belonged to the security establishment….they found the activities of the American official detrimental to our national security,” disclosed a security official.
He requested not to be identified since he was not authorised to speak to the media on record.
The official confirmed that the president, the prime minister and the chief of army staff (COAS) had discussed the issue in a meeting last week. The three thought it was advisable to resist the US pressure on the Raymond Davis issue and believed the detained American national should not be released at this stage, he said.
He said the government’s tough stance on the controversy was also its reaction to the attempts by certain elements in Washington to implicate the country’s top spy agency, the ISI, in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
“The government is very angry with the decision of an American court to summon top ISI officials in connections with the Mumbai attacks,”
the official maintained.
The military spokesman was not available for comments.
The officials in the Foreign Office also confirmed the government’s position on the Raymond Davis issue but said he would eventually be released once the firm assurance from the US that such incidents would not recur.
The government was also contemplating to ask the American government to waive off Raymond’s immunity and try him in the US courts, the officials added. A US Embassy official said his government had “no plans yet to agree on such a step”.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2011.
 
This case just keeps on unraveling... To let go a national security threat, would now be treacherous without determining his guilt or innocence.

ajtr posted that on another thread, very interesting.

Lahore shooting: 3 more Americans barred from leaving Pakistan - Hindustan Times

Three more Americans, besides US official Raymond Davis who fatally shot two Pakistanis in Lahore, have been prohibited from going abroad, said an official. The government barred the three more US nationals from going out of the country on allegations that they were in the vehicle that crushed a man to death in Lahore after Davis was involved in the shooting, the Express Tribune reported on Monday.

Davis was arrested after he shot dead two people riding on a motorbike at a busy intersection in Lahore on January 27. He called up the US consulate after the shooting and a team rushed to help him. The team's vehicle collided with a motorcyclist, killing him.

The Punjab government has asked the federal government's assistance in securing the custody of the three Americans who are accused of running over the motorcyclist.

"The interior ministry has placed the name of the three Americans, including the driver of the US consulate in Lahore, on the exit control list," an interior ministry official was quoted as saying. The list contains names of people who are prohibited from leaving Pakistan.

The official said that the federal interior ministry, through the Foreign Office, has written to the US consulate demanding that the three Americans to be handed over to the Punjab police.

Senator Pervez Rashid, special assistant to tne Punjab chief minister, said: "We have sought access to get custody of these accused because they are wanted by the Punjab police in connection to the Raymond Davis case."

A US embassy official said: "We have not received any such information on the issue as yet."
 
One thing is bothering me, if it is understood that eventually davis will be freed, then why the GoP is making the case more complicated than it already is :undecided:

Some thing is fishy.. or maybe Zardari and Co are very much afraid of the public backlash at this time-- courtesy Egypt :azn:

The suicide has delayed the release of Davis for atleast 2 weeks.
 
Widow of Pakistani killed by US man commits suicide

The widow of a Pakistani man who was killed by a US citizen has committed suicide after taking poison.

In her dying statement, Shumaila said she feared the American would be released without trial, police and doctors said.

Her husband, Mohammad Faheem, and another man were shot dead by Raymond Davis in Lahore last month.

The US embassy has called for Mr Davis to be freed, saying he has diplomatic status and is immune from prosecution.

Mr Davis has admitted that he shot the men but says he acted in self-defence because they were trying to rob him.

A court in Lahore has barred officials from freeing Mr Davis and ordered them to place his name on the "exit control list" to stop him leaving Pakistan.

He has been sent into custody while police investigate the case.
'Blood for blood'

"Faheem's wife Shumaila has died," news agency AFP quoted doctor Yasin Hashmi, head of Faisalabad city's Allied Hospital, as saying.

"Doctors tried hard to save her life but could not succeed and she died a short while ago," he said.

"I do not expect any justice from this government," the Associated Press quoted her as saying in a statement recorded by the doctor before she died.

"That is why I want to kill myself."

AP reported that Shumaila also spoke to reporters after arriving at the hospital, saying: "I want blood for blood."

"The way my husband was shot, his killer should be shot in the same fashion," she said.

Mr Davis is charged on two counts - murder and possession of illegal weapons. He is due back in court on 11 February.

Pakistan's government has asked the court for time to determine whether Mr Davis has diplomatic immunity or not.

The authorities previously said he was not among foreign security personnel authorised to carry firearms in the country.

The US embassy in Islamabad has argued that he is a consulate employee who acted in "self-defence when confronted by two armed men on motorcycles" on 27 January.

Mr Davis is said to have told police that the motorcycle rider and his pillion passenger tried to hijack his vehicle at gunpoint.

As Mr Davis' colleagues came to his aid, their vehicle ran over and killed a third person.
 
The rhetoric in the world media is clearly demanding action

Pakistan rally condemns US diplomat

Hundreds of Pakistanis have held a demonstration against the man they believe was responsible for the deaths of Pakistanis in a shooting incident last month.

Pakistani lawyers, rights groups and political activists rallied in front of the US consulate in Lahore.

Hundreds of protesters from varied political organisations took part in the protest, insisting the Pakistan government resist any effort to have Davis repatriated to the US.

They said the government should bring Davis to justice according to Pakistan's law.

The angry protesters threatened to overthrow the Pakistani government unless it hangs Davis.

Wife kills self after man slain by U.S.. official - The Denver Post

LAHORE, Pakistan — The wife of a Pakistani man shot and killed by a U.S. official committed suicide by eating rat poison Sunday, explaining before she died that she was driven to act by fears that the American would be freed without trial, a doctor said.

The U.S. has demanded that authorities release the American, Raymond Davis, saying the two armed men he shot attempted to rob him. He was arrested on Jan. 27, and the U.S. has said he has diplomatic immunity.

Davis and his wife are renting a home in Highlands Ranch.

The shootings have stoked anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, feelings that could be further inflamed by Shumaila Kanwal's suicide.

Imran plans Egypt-style movement in Pakistan - Arab News

SLAMABAD: Inspired by the turmoil in Egypt, some Pakistani leaders are planning protests against the government. Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Sunday announced his plan to launch an Egyptian-style movement against what he termed “corrupt regime” of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Speaking at a press conference at the residence of Ibadur Rehman, one of the young men killed by US diplomat Raymond Davis, Imran said, “The socio-economic and political conditions prevailing in Pakistan are no different from those in Egypt.” He said the Egyptian people were struggling to replace a “corrupt government” by an accountable representative government.
 
Much to the dismay of many here, the final conclusion to this case is pretty much a no-brainer. The Pakistani establishment cannot simply afford to question an immunity claim by the Americans. The case against the ISI chief in the U.S. can & will be used as leverage if needed. There is simply no way that Pakistan can claim immunity for its officials in that case while refusing to grant the same to an American official. The longer this drags on, the worse it is going to be when the decision to free this guy is finally made.
 
I m getting some information coming in about this case. It seems like Raymond Davis is going to be released tomorrow.

Has anyone else received the same info...

This is the height of treason against Pakistan...
 
I m getting some information coming in about this case. It seems like Raymond Davis is going to be released tomorrow.

Has anyone else received the same info...

This is the height of treason against Pakistan...


You may want RD�s head, but GOP has more plans!

They run the government, hence there is more at stake (strategic ties-Arms-USD etcetra) from thier point of view, which general public fails to realise. Its not good for Pakistanis to be jazbati on this issue.
 
Not very good things gonna happen after his release... Believe me the government is trying invoke a mass protest....
 
not good, but it was expected...... PPP is just a puppet govrnment saadly..
 
There is much more to this case than meets the eye, but I think that we ALL need to keep calm and let the powers working behind the scenes from BOTH sides do their jobs.

All will be settled soon enough.
 
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